I was happy the actress Julianne Moore won a prize for the TV movie, GAME CHANGE last week. I thought she deserved it for making Sarah complicated rather than a cardboard celebrity. I still don’t know much about Sarah Palin and the only scene I remember is when she agreed to run as Vice President. She said, “I have a servant’s heart.”

That phrase, servant’s heart stuck in my mind as if it were a line in a song that repeats itself over and over, without permission. Do you remember, “you get no bread with one meatball”? That line has been popping up in my peculiarly unique brain for about 70 years.

The phrase, servant’s heart, must mean something to me since I still remember it. I suppose Sarah intended to convey the idea is that politicians work for the people and I agree with her on some days. Other days I just marvel at their actions.

Never mind Sarah. What I need to ask myself is what having a servant’s heart means to me personally. After all, I have spent most of my life as an educator, self-help writer, and minister. Whom or what have I been serving all these years? Myself? Others? God?

The answer has to be all of the above.

I serve myself because I am living up to my own personal potential in wonderful ways. I have the gifts and abilities and I love to use them. Work is one of the great joys of my life. I love to work and that’s the truth.

I serve others because I believe we all are connected and we can help each other on the journey to enlightenment. We are connected to each other through our spiritual natures. We are all travelers and we are all one.

People like me who have taken on the role of spiritual leader or Science of Mind teacher know that we can use spiritual law to change what we call our reality. Our work is to show the way to others, as we travel our own path to higher realization of our God nature.

I serve God because it is all God. Everything comes from Spirit and we are all connected in Spirit. Once we accept that God lives full power (even if not fully activated) in every one of us, then we know that anything we do to help ourselves must also help others.

We all serve God when we express love for ourselves and for each other. We are serving because that Creative Energy which we call God is constantly expanding and moving toward greater good. God expands through us because we are eternally connected to God and to each other. We are One.

That’s the Truth. The mystics knew it and people in New Thought know it. We are connected here and now on Planet Earth.

There are times when we may feel separate but that is not the spiritual truth. In Truth, there is no separation. What that means is exactly what philosophers and poets have been telling us for centuries. No man is an island…. Do not ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

I may not always enjoy the idea but at the level of Spirit, Sarah Palin and I are One. We are sisters in spirit and this is true for everyone else on the planet. Despite the prevailing beliefs in our society, we really are all connected. There is no “other”.

President Obama gets kidded because he’s so fond of saying, there are no red states and blue states, and that we are one America. People may think it is just rhetoric or that he’s naïve but he is correct on a spiritual level.

Utah may vote one way and California another, but we are all connected. We say we are children of God. We must also be each other’s brothers and sisters. We are also the keepers of all our siblings at some level. And.. we also are separate individuals. We must lend a helping hand, trust God, and let each one discover his own path and her own power.

I may be a preacher or teacher but I don’t get to make you do it my way. My job as a teacher with a servant’s heart is to demonstrate my belief system by living my teaching as I attempt to show the path to others by walking my talk.

What that means in daily action varies from one New Thought person to another, just as it does for Muslims or Jews. I follow politics because I am connected and I believe I should monitor what’s going on. Some colleagues don’t open the newspaper. We are following our own inner guidance. We both have servant’s hearts.

Living life out of a servant’s heart can be a complicated undertaking. One of the biggest dangers is shared by politicians. A respected teacher can become so used to authority that she forgets she is actually just one more pilgrim on the spiritual journey.

Whether we are parents, teachers, ministers, politicians, or anyone in a position of authority, we have a responsibility to serve in integrity. We must retain our servant’s heart. We need to remember that we do not always know what is right for the other person. Each must find his own path and what works for me may not work for everyone.

People in authority are wayshowers. We need to constantly renew our personal spiritual practice and avoid judging others. We must lead with a clean heart. We must also be willing to change and grow because that is what we teach.

Anyone who has tried to live a life according to spiritual principles knows there is a delicate balance between following your individual guidance and conforming to your group. We need to stay grounded and not begin to imagine we have all the answers.

My prayer partners and metaphysical friends are precious to me. I trust them to tell me the truth when I ask. My family helps me remember who I am and where I come from. I need these relationships that help me keep my balance.

During these last few years when my health has not been as good, many people have helped me in many ways. One of the gifts of this physical experience has been learning to ask for help and admitting that I cannot do it alone. I want to serve others and I now realize the circle is not complete until I also allow others to serve me.

Having a servant’s heart and knowing we are connected to each other in Love is a wonderful way to live. I am grateful to this wonderful New Thought teaching and to Dr. Ernest Holmes. I am also grateful to some very “downhome” leaders who taught me not to take myself too seriously. They include Dr.Raymond Charles Barker, Dr. Kennedy Shultz, Dr. David Walker, Dr. Nancy Anderson, Dr. Carol Carnes and many others.

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One Comment on “A Servant’s Heart”

As many of us have long believed, for life or death reasons . . . “Our leaders are but trusted servants, they do not govern.” Let’s know that more and more of them will come to accept this for themselves.